


there is something strange in the neighborhood

by Evanaissante



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Alice's house is haunted, Alternate Universe - Ghost Hunters, Established Relationship, Fluff and Humor, Ghosts, Happy Ending, Light Angst, Multi, Past Drug Addiction, Penny/Eliot/Quentin are Ghosthunters, Polyamory, Quentin takes his meds, References to Depression, That's it, because i can't help myself
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-10-10 15:48:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20530544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evanaissante/pseuds/Evanaissante
Summary: Alice Quinn is a college student who inherited her parents' beautiful house after her father died and her mother decided to move to the Caribbeans. Alice loves the house and everything it stands for, she loved her father dearly and wishes he wasn't gone. And, well, they do say be careful what you wish for because Alice's house is haunted and she wonders who the hell might be making her ghost breakfast every morning.To find out, she calls a team of Ghostbusters, formed by a grumpy psychic, a suave man with telekinetic abilities and a strange guy who talks to spirits. They're also apparently all dating which, in retrospects, seems weirder than the ghosts.





	there is something strange in the neighborhood

**Author's Note:**

> this was written for AU week: crack or a movie a cast member has been in and this fic kind of applies to both? this is very loosely based on paranormal activity since olivia taylor dudley was in the fifth one and this is also kind of cracky.  
this was also my first time writing penny/eliot/quentin which is a ship i might revisit later because i discovered a real love for these three together.  
this was also supposed to be a very short story and now it's a two chapter bullshit, because i can't control myself and i'm sorry.
> 
> anyway, enjoy this first chapter!

Alice didn't know who to call. She’d been pacing around all day, the gears in her head turning like crazy while she drank cups after cups of lukewarm coffee that the spirits inhabiting her house had made for her this morning. The pot was almost empty now and said spirits had been floating over the machine, ready to make her some more when she finally swallowed the last drop.

This was kind of the issue here.

As a Biology Engineer student, she probably should have been glad that out of this world entities have decided to take care of her caffeine needs, she should have also been thankful for that one omelette she woke up to last week, and for a little while, she hadn't cared all that much. She had been too tired after school to think about calling an exorcist or try to find a reliable spell in Latin that didn't open the gates of Hell under her parents' house. She'd seen enough traumatizing horror movies as a child, thank you, Stephanie, for that, to know that spewing dead languages with intentions and without a safety net would probably get her gutted by an angry poltergeist.

Because ghosts were a thing.

In real life.

_ Goddammit. _

As she had said before, Alice hadn't cared about her spooky roommates until recently. At first, she hadn't cared simply because she hadn't wanted to believe they truly existed. She had tried to find a rational, scientific explanation for the glasses of orange juices that poured themselves out of the corner of her eye, but after the third morning in a row where she woke up to already cooked pancakes, she had had to accept it. Then, she hadn't cared because they seemed like nice ghosts and it seemed like a lot of trouble evicting them when they were perfectly cordial and courteous, they even did the dishes sometimes, why would she get rid of that? But last night had been a turning point and know she couldn't ignore it.

Last night, she'd been watching some garbage TV show, where the writers had decided to throw away the character's development midseason, and munching on a pack of stale chips that had left her as unsatisfied as her episode. She had gotten up the sofa, the ugly purple one her mother had chosen years ago and that she still needed to change, to get something else to snack on when an ice cream sundae appeared right in front of her. It should have been normal, or at least normal for people who cohabited with spirits, but something had been off. Something had been too good, too familiar.

The sundae had gummy bears.

Now, you see, Alice loved gummy bears on ice cream, she was one of those weirdos. She knew she was one of those weirdos because every time she went out to get ice cream with Kady, who wasn’t her girlfriend yet but who wasn’t _not_ her girlfriend if you saw what she meant, Kady made a point of stealing a couple of gummies and popping it in her mouth to make Alice kiss her sugar-coated lips before commenting on how godawful gummy bears are on ice cream. Alice knew it was weird, she knew it was unusual and she also knew that this particular preference of hers wasn’t a widely shared one and that either the ghosts had super strange tastes too or these ghosts knew her personally and now, she just had to know.

Because Alice didn’t live in this big house by herself for happy reasons, she didn’t go through three hours of commute every morning to get to school because she liked it, she was living in this house because he father had a violent heart attack, died and left the house to her and her mother. Alice had been ready to leave the house to Stephanie, it seemed fair for her mother to not move from her only home after the loss of her husband, but Stephanie hadn't cared about it at all, she'd only packed her clothes and jewellery before leaving Alice to this huge, empty house for her beach cottage in the Caribbeans.

And sure, living alone in your childhood home has a few perks. The first few days after moving in, Alice had taken the time to tear down the beige wallpapers her mother had forced her to get because they respected the aesthetics of the others room to paint her bedroom an intense shade of electric blue with Kady's help. Then they had inaugured the bed and Alice had felt safe, she had been happy to get this house and reorganise her life around it because it was now hers and hers only. She could have blue walls and get tacky glass sculptures of horses, she could put throw away all of her mother's heterosexual sex books and replace it with her biology manuals and her lesbian erotica if she wanted to. 

The first months in this house had been pure joy and maybe it was because she was now living her life in spite of everything her mother would have wanted for her, but when the ghosts arrived and the weird go weirder, Alice hadn't cared, she'd been just as happy eviscerating Stephanie's silk pillows with the spirits hovering next to her than without them. But now, things were different.

Now Alice wondered if the souls that shared this place with her were more familiar than she had thought they were.

* * *

Quentin hated haunted houses.

For a guy who made a living hunting ghosts, it was probably a little ironic but he really fucking despised it. Haunted houses were usually either super depressing, the spirits were children who had died years ago and didn't know how to move to the beyond, or terrifying, like that witch house in Pennsylvania where Eliot had thrown a cabinet at the head of said witch, who had cursed the grounds with the blood of kittens for _fun_. Quentin despises haunted houses, they're shitty, unreliable jobs that don't even get them that much money and that always put them in difficult situations. 

"You have to go," Julia said as she glided across the floor of the apartment, her robe drifting smoothy around her like she was underwater. "I know this isn't your favorite type of cases, Quentin, but you haven't gone on a single hunt this month. You need to use your abilities more often and you know it."

Julia was right, she was always right, it was one of the most annoying things with having a century-old spirit as your best friend, they were usually right about everything all the time. It also didn't help that Julia had been a prestress of Athena, she was kind of wisdom personified.

"Penny and Eliot can go, they do the job perfectly on their own." Quentin knew, deep down, that he shouldn't have been jealous about his boyfriends' easy work relationship. They'd been dating for four years now and they had their ups and downs, but they worked, the three of them, but Eliot and Penny were better colleagues and that bothered Quentin. He couldn't help it, he hated the fact that Eliot's telekinesis and Penny's telepathy completed each other so well, he could only speak to ghosts and that wasn't even a given, when he took his meds he sometimes couldn't feel the veil of death at all and he was basically useless.

He'd tried to talk Eliot and Penny into letting him off his meds for cases but they'd been adamant about it, Quentin was not to get near any type of mystical bullshit without his pills in his bag and the clear intent of taking them. He knew that they were only doing this to keep him safe, that it was for his own good, but he couldn't help the feeling that he wasn't their equal when it came to this job and he guessed that it wasn't the healthiest mindset to have when you were in a polyamory relationship. 

Julia frowned next to him, she looked worried but fond, which was the usual expression she sported every time she and Quentin talked seriously. Even while he was taking his meds, Quentin could still see Julia. He didn't know why, she was as ghosty as any ghosts could get, she was dead since Ancient Greece, but she was like bonded to him. He'd always been able to see her, he actually couldn't remember a time where she hadn't been right next to him, so close that, if she'd been alive, he could have smelled her hair.

"You don't mean that," She whispered, her voice soft like velvet on his skin. Quentin's powers made him able to perceive the aura of spirits, Julia's voice and hands were delicate but her mind was sharp like the blade of a knife, when she was angry, the air around her would sting anyone in her perimeter. She was like thunder and lighting at sea, beautiful but dangerous. Quentin loved her more than words could describe.

All his life he'd felt like an outsider, maybe it was because he read too much, or because he always knew that he was bi, or maybe it was his sixth sense that made him so terribly awkward. It was hard to make friends when you could see people's dead pets follow them. Loneliness would have probably killed him in High School if he hadn't had Julia with him, clever Julia who hadn't spoken to anyone since her death and who had learned how to act like a modern woman by watching Quentin fake his way through life. She'd been the first person to understand him, the first one to get how his mind worked and broke.

Until he met Eliot and Penny.

His relationship with the both of them hadn't been comparable at first. Penny had been a jerk when they met, the type of jerk Quentin couldn't even imagine having any type of interaction with that didn't either end up in a fistfight or in hate sex, which was two things they had, in that order. Eliot had been different in the sense that Quentin had actively tried to get with him before they had formed a _throuple._

(This wasn't actually a term they used. Quentin liked boyfriends, Eliot prefered partners and Penny called them his significant annoyances._)_

Quentin had flirted with Eliot for a couple of weeks before falling into bed with him and when Quentin had hinted at their relationship maybe becoming something more than friends having sex, Eliot had made a very stupid "That's not me, that's not you" that resulted in them still fucking but barely speaking when they did.

Then the Christmas party of 2015 had happened.

Quentin barely remembered it, he knew from Margo, Eliot's best friend and one of the scariest person Quentin had ever met, ghosts included, that they had all gotten very drunk and had a widely inappropriate game of charades before making out, the three of them, under the mistletoe. He supposed it all was born from festive horniness, tequila shots and repressed feelings but all Quentin could recall was waking up tangled up with them, Penny spooning him and Eliot asleep on his chest.

They would have probably freaked out about it, Quentin was sure _he_ would have at least, but then they had gotten their very first case and they hadn't found the time to speak about their wild night while learning that they were all somehow connected to the mystic arts and hunting a vengeful, homophobic ghost in the college's library.

But that was another story, Quentin was just stalling. He didn't want to tell Julia that he feared the next case because he wouldn't be able to see ghosts, he just knew it. he'd been taking his medication for six months non-stop, he had alarms set for it. If he went to this house, if he followed Penny and Eliot, they would figure out he was useless for the job.

And if he didn't fit in that part of their relationship, did he fit in the rest?

Julia must have known what he was thinking because Quentin felt a tingle on his shoulder. She was touching him, her hand grazing over his skin just slightly, she was faking contact, she did that sometimes. She would let her fingers caress him while also making it look like an authentic touch, open palm and everything like real humans did. 

"You should talk to them about this," She was letting her lips brush against his cheek and he so wanted to hug her. He would have given a lot to be able to really have Julia with him, to hold her hand and braid the hair she so often complained about. But when your best friend was a ghost, you had to make do with what you had.

"I don't think I can," He headbutted her, he faked it, he let his forehead touch the space where hers would be and tried to send her the waves of affection he felt for her. "I'm not sure I'd be able to handle what they have to say."

He didn't want to imagine a world where Eliot and Penny left him, he couldn't.

Julia cupped his cheek, he shivered where he fingers reached his skin, "They love you." It was easier to hear than to believe. Objectively, he knew that his boyfriends wouldn't deal with his personal brand of fucked-up if they didn't at least tolerate his presence, but he was an insecure individual and that was a fucking euphemism. "How could they not love you? You're their better third."

He chuckled, it was a running joke with Julia. She liked to say that she only allowed Penny and Eliot in the apartment, that she was actively haunting if they were being literal, because they had Quentin to balance out all of their shit. It was totally false, Julia loved them both, Penny made her laugh without even realising she was in the room and she seemed to feel some sort of kinship to Eliot that Quentin wasn't certain he understood.

He was about to make some sort of deprecating joke when Eliot entered the room. He was dressed in his ghost hunting gear, which meant that he was wearing the exact same clothes he usually wore but without a tie and a pocket square. He was also wearing his glasses, Quentin really loved that.

"Are you ready to head out, baby Q?" He was holding two thermoses and Quentin just knew that one was filled with milk coffee for him and rooibos tea for Penny. "Penny is going to try to drive stick, you don't wanna miss that."

Instantly, most of Quentin's worries melted away, Eliot had that power on him. He also had that influence on Penny, Eliot was just a natural peacekeeper, which always made the three of them laugh because it was _Quentin_ who was called Makepeace but Eliot was the calm one. He had his moments of frenzy, no one was safe from a little panic when you frequently worked with dead people, but Eliot always had this sort of elegant serenity that both Quentin and Penny envied. 

Eliot also had the incredible ability to discern Quentin and Penny's mood changes. He must have felt Quentin's dense panic float around the room because he set his cups on the coffee table and sat next to Quentin, his hands automatically going for his boyfriend's. He looked to Quentin's right side, lifting his chin, "Is Julia in the room?" Eliot couldn't see Julia, Penny couldn't either, yet they all lived together and Eliot made a point to always talk to the woman when he knew she was there.

Quentin nodded and Julia smiled next to him, "Hi, Eliot." She said, a sparkle in her eyes. Quentin informed his boyfriend that he'd been greeted, Eliot reciprocated. He then stared at Quentin, looking for Quentin's eyes under his hair, sliding a strand behind Quentin's ear in the process, Julia hummed approvingly. "What's going on, sweetheart?"

Nicknames were one of Quentin' weaknesses, he couldn't keep his feelings in check when Eliot called him that, or when Penny let himself use one too. It was usually by mistake in the morning, when he was too sleepy to be cranky and he couldn't stop himself from calling Quentin _dear_.

"I don't know if I should come with you," Quentin confessed, unable to look at Eliot's hazel eyes. He always felt naked under Eliot's gaze, sometimes it had its perks, but most of the time it scared him to the bone.

Eliot raised a brow, "We're kind of a team, Q."

"You can be a team with Penny."

"That'd be a duo, not a team."

"Well, maybe that's preferable."

Eliot grasped his hands tighter, pulling them to his waist, it was once of his typical moves when he was trying to get under Quentin's skin. "You wanna repeat that while I'm wrapped around you?"

Quentin snorted, but he could hear the sadness in his own voice. "You can't seduce me into confidence, El."

"No," Eliot kisses him softly, just a small press of lips, "I guess I can't." He licked the corner of Quentin's mouth and Quentin felt something come alight in the pit of his stomach. "But I can try."

Quentin let himself be kissed for a few seconds, relinquishing in the sweet coffee taste of Eliot's mouth, he wished Penny was here to embrace him too, but he also knew that this wasn't the solution to what he was feeling. Sex was never the problem between them.

He moved backwards, leaving the comfort of Eliot's lips, "I'll only slow you down," He murmured, a little breathless. 

Eliot opened his eyes and frowned, "That's not true, Q."

"I slowed you down last time."

"That wasn't your fault," Eliot interrupted, a little more forcefully, "You know that right?"

On their last case, they'd lost their client. They'd been called to perform an exorcism on a young girl named Emily, she'd been possessed by the spirit of an ancient beast who was draining her life essence. It should have been easy, it was a pretty common exorcism but Quentin had fucked up. He'd heard the beast's and he'd let himself get manipulated in breaking the salt circle. When he'd come back to himself, Penny's hands had been covered in blood and Eliot's left arm had been broken.

He wasn't sure he would ever forgive himself for that.

"It broke your arm, El." He whispered, the memory of Eliot's face distorted in pain cloaking his throat. "You were screaming."

'It was just one broken bone, Q." Eliot squeezed his fingers, "I'm okay."

"I shouldn't have happened, don't try to make me feel better about it."

Eliot sighed. He pushed his glasses a bit further on his nose and settled deeper into the sofa. He looked determined, Quentin wasn't sure he was going to like what was coming. "Remember the McCormick job?"

He did, but Quentin also knew that this was a name they didn't say out loud, not when Eliot was there. Mike McCormick had been Eliot's boyfriend when he was younger, a nice guy with blond curls and blue eyes that had made feel both Quentin and Penny inadequate when they'd met him. He'd called Eliot a while back, saying that he thought his apartment was haunted and that he needed help. Back that time, the Quentin-Penny-Eliot relationship had been pretty fresh, they hadn't really established boundaries yet, so they all acted like they were fine with everything in the fear that if one of them snapped, they would all leave. They'd learned afterwards that it was a really unhealthy way to get into a polyamorous relationship but back then, they'd all found a way to cope with it. Quentin had gotten even deeper in his books, Penny had gone out a lot more and Eliot, well, Eliot had let some of his most destructive vices loose. He had drunk a lot, far too much, and he mixed pills when he was bored. When they'd went to see Mike, he'd been high off his mind and when the started the exorcism and discovered that the spirit in Mike's home had attached itself to him and was killing him, Eliot hadn't been able to cast fast enough to get the creature out. 

Mike had died.

The McCormick case stayed, to this day, one of the darkest one of their career.

He only replied, "Yes." Because he didn't know how far he could go.

"Did you blame me?" Eliot asked, his eyes searching Quentin's, "Back then? For what happened?"

The answer was automatic, "No."

"Then understand that we don't blame you." 

Quentin exhaled, he wanted to disagree but Eliot was still holding his hands and staring at him right in the eye, he couldn't. "Not even a little bit? I'm sure Penny has something to say."

"If you think that boy doesn't love you unconditionally, then you don't really know him."

Quentin felt the weight on his shoulders lighten, behind him Julia awed. "That's one way to build confidence." He joked.

"I can still seduce you, if you've changed your mind." Eliot smiled, "We can call Penny back up and have a bit of TLC before we hit the road."

Quentin smiled back, "That's tempting, but we have a case to take care of." 

"_We_?" Eliot knew exactly what he was doing, but he faked naivety really well.

"Yes, we." Quentin kissed his lips quickly before jumping up. "It's always _we_. I'm sorry I forgot." 

**Author's Note:**

> find me on [tumblr](https://starryspice.tumblr.com/)


End file.
